Day 9 - The Real UWA

Yuzu, Nichole, and Tomo packing the car

Heartfelt Goodbye from Andy

Yuzu, Tomo, and Nichole had gone at 9:30am to get a car, and were checking out at 11am. I heard Yuzu’s unique pattern of speech, prompting me to get up and see how things progressed. They were booking their rooms for when they returned, so I may see them again on the 23rd. Andy and I watched in suspense as Tomo backed the rental car cautiously out the gated driveway. With a few adjustments around the parked cars, we waved goodbye and returned inside.

Liz was on her way over because I had been mistaken in calling the nearby cultural centre “UWA.” She said she’d show me the actual University of Western Australia to set the record straight. Sounds good. I rushed to type out Day 8 and get ready before she showed up, letter in hand. My “Tax File Number” had shown up, which will help with jobs… I think? I don’t really know what it does at this point, but it was free and easy to get.

This picture was much more impressive to the naked eye

UWA (the real one) was a bit further than (and over the cliff from) Kings park, and was pretty close to Swan River. Having bodies of water everywhere makes things seem a lot nicer, and in a much more impressive way than Laurel Creek could ever hope for (sorry, UW (and the subsequent e coli (not really (Parentheception)))). The plants around campus also look as though they’re from another planet, which I commented on. Liz suggested I read this childrens book that explains to children the flora/fauna of Australia. I forget the name, or I would totally read it right now.

Some Strange Aussie Girl

After wandering around for an hour or so, we grabbed lunch at this nearby place that was cheap and caught up on the events of the week. Having hung out with Japanese, German, and British friends this week, the topic of WWII was going to come up at some point, and luckily it did so a few days before in an amicable fashion. It’s funny that I’ve learned more about Canadian History in the past week than I have in the past 10 years because I’ve had to look up what we did in certain events that kept coming up. How were we settled? What did we do in world war I and II? What’s the deal with Quebec? One thing I’m still not clear on is the Quebecois’ relationship with France itself. One Frenchman said that the Quebecois' words sound fine, but their delivery/cadence was… childlike and humorous. He said he could never work with them because he’d have a hard time taking them seriously. The more you know!

Liz and I continued the sociopolitical/travel discussion while she watched me enjoy a flat white. We drove past this really fancy college, which I interpreted “college” to mean “technical college” or whatever we have in Canada. Nah, mate. Totally like an ivy league-looking school with all the appropriate accoutrement (there you go, Steve). She dropped me off at the hostel where I looked up and applied for jobs, and wasted time online after not having that luxury since I arrived.

Quite Painful

Offering the Flower

I wandered around town a bit, met some Australians, played some games, then eventually returned to the hostel when I felt like my stomach was going to begin eating itself. I came across another living statue, a strange bride of sorts. I gave her 50c and watched her for a little bit after taking a couple pictures. She gave me a small, white flower and held eye contact for quite some time. Some douchebag  yelled some obscenities at her and I gave him a dirty look, which she seemed to appreciate. Who knows if she actually did; she didn’t move much. I got home and ate an entire cantaloupe, a carrot, and a tiny bit of liver/cheese stew stuff that Australian Dean had thrown together. Andy and I talked about society with Dean’s friend, Australian Peter. They were a laugh, and I helped do some of their dishes as thanks for the food.

American Tim was going out, so I was told by English Andy, though Andy didn’t think he should go due to monetary constraints. I was pretty exhausted and my legs were pretty spent, so I was on the fence. On the one hand, we can only really go out on weekends, while on the other I'm pretty broke and have been barely fending off sickness since I got here. Tim brought a couple cans of cider to each of us. We drank, discussing strange things that won’t be included here. Tim left abruptly, so there wasn’t much of a decision to be made. Andy and I looked up and applied for jobs together. Liz was also forwarding job postings to me, giving me a list to work my way through. Around 11:30 I finally made a proper meal (sort of, it was a burger on bread) while Italian Stefano, Irish John, and Italian Luca had their separate turns talking with me (Stefano keeps trying to connect, despite the language barrier (quite the character); John is rehashing his situation - flying to Sydney; Luca and his Brother (Matteo) are about to begin their 3 months on a farm and he isn’t looking forward to it). Andy watched the first episode of Daredevil while I cooked. Once his episode finished, I retired to watch one myself, and slept the longest sleep I’ve had since I got here.

Bonus Pic: Liz in the Japanese Garden

Look at those muscles

One of the Peacocks we came across on campus